StellaService snaps up $5 million for secret shopping

Online mystery shopping site gears up for holiday season with funding from Battery, DFJ and RRE

In the world of online shopping, StellaService has set out a mission of being the online mystery shopper that gives consumers an understanding of how companies treat the virtual customer.

The two-year-old service rating start-up announced Wednesday a $5 million Series A funding, bringing their total funding thus far to $7 million. This round of funding was led by Battery Ventures and included DFJ Gotham Ventures, RRE Ventures and Forerunner Ventures.

The online service, based in New York City, is focused on not just helping Web shoppers better understand how online companies handle internet purchases, but it also informs retailers how to grow their businesses through customer service data and marketing services. 

StellaServices states that it has increased the number of retailers it works with ten-fold since April and claims that the number of companies and people that see the StellaSeal and interact with their results are in the hundreds of millions per month.

”Our mission is simply to create a world with better customer service,” Jordy Leiser, co-founder and CEO of StellaService, said in a statement. “We believe we’ve only just begun, and our rapid growth the last few months is a testament to the number of people and companies who share in our vision. We’re grateful to be working with such a strong group of investors and are excited to bring Forerunner on board in this latest round. ”  

How do they work

StellaServices uses its own funds to shop with online retailers and rating the experience from searching for the website to receiving the items.

Data points are collected on whether items are in stock when a company advertises that it is, whether the packages arrive in the time stated, the condition of the items and even the ease with which a person can return or issue a complaint about a product.

Because of all of the mystery shopping that StellaService had done, consumers can log onto the company website and see analysis of a consumer experience and whether they receive a StellaService seal of approval -- for living up to a global brand quality of service.

I looked up Best Buy to see how the global brand ranks on StellaSeal and, as of July 2011, the corporation has received a badge of excellence -- touting knowledgable support, in-store returns and a quick check out process. The status that a company can receive include: not approved, approved, excellent and elite. 

Companies that have been rated and analyzed by StellaService can then display their rating level on their website, if they choose.

"We are intensely focused on providing a great online shopping experience, and STELLAService helps us deliver that message in a credible fashion,” Jeffrey R. Hennion, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of ecommerce at GNC, said in a statement. “Not only are we proud to display the STELLAService seal, we're also excited to leverage the company's data to continuously monitor, measure and benchmark our service performance, helping us stay ahead of the curve."

Similar sites offering mystery shopping services and data for internet sites include Secret Webshopper and All-Star Customer Service.

What is next

Some of the funding that came in this series will go toward rating retailers through the upcoming holiday season. StellaService is also partnering with a web application platform, Compuware Gomez, to better detail this venture.

I looked up several retailers to see where, or if they rank, and it was moderately helpful but I was left wanting more information on what problems StellaService noticed and if whether the retailer was working with StellaService to improve their customer service. To me, that would be an additional value to the stamp of approval.

Image Source -- Retailassistance and Hoteliermiddleeast.com